


Rumor Has It

by Memories_of_the_Shadows



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Gossip, Nonbinary Character, Rumors, Tea Parties, Wordcount: 500-1.000, mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24064099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memories_of_the_Shadows/pseuds/Memories_of_the_Shadows
Summary: Every good lie has a grain of truth in it, and someone can learn an awful lot from tea party gossip.
Relationships: Leliana & Iron Bull, Leliana & Sten, Leliana & Warden (Dragon Age)
Kudos: 4





	Rumor Has It

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Rumor Has It" by Adele.
> 
> I do not consent to my work being hosted on any unofficial apps, especially any with ad revenue and subscription services, or any website other than ao3 unless I personally cross-posted a work.

The teacup looks awfully small and very delicate in his hands the first time it happens, but Leliana is not a sentimental little girl anymore. She’s not afraid that the Iron Bull will break her porcelain.

(She’s a little afraid, but the Bull handles the cup like he’s been to as many Antivan High Teas as she has. She thought she had stopped judging people by their appearance a long time ago. She’ll do better.)

They sip in silence, eyes drifting across the other in an attempt to deduce the best approach. Leliana is fairly sure she made a bit of a miscalculation with the tea, but Bull seems to be enjoying himself. (Sten, she remembers fondly, had liked tea as well, in the baffled, patient way that adults have with children who don’t know better. She felt that often from him, even balanced with his respect for her. It was not as much of a contradiction for a Qunari as it would be for an elf or a human. All the reports suggest it was similar for Hawke and the Arishok. Every recent Tal-Vashoth she’s met too. Bull is just better at hiding the paternal confusion behind the respect.)

“What blend is this?” he asks finally, and it rumbles around her tent. Leliana hadn’t realized how much she missed Sten--missed all of the ragtag Warden party that she had so idealistically attached herself too--until now. The sound of a friendly Qunari voice warms her.

“A Ferelden herbal, not very popular, I’m afraid, but very warming. Queen Anora is supposed to prefer it to the Orlesian blends: a nostalgic remembrance of her father unless I miss my guess.” It’s a bit of gossip that the runner--a twitchy, young thing, fresh from their family’s farm not even half a league’s walk from the outskirts of Haven--repeats every time they drop it off like it is gospel. She hardly even notices it when the tidbit comes out but she _does_ notice Bull’s booming laugh.

“Denerim’s trade in Orlesian silks and other goods went down by ten percent in the year following the Blight and Anora’s ascension and has never recovered since. I’d say it’s a bit more than nostalgia,” he says, blinking slowly and deliberately in what she is fairly sure is a wink. It’s not something she has heard before but from what little interaction she had with Anora it would not surprise her overmuch.

She sighs. “I understand why Surana decided to back her claim over Alistair’s but I do not think they really took the time to find out her politics. Though I am not sure Surana cared much as long as they got the ending they desired.” It’s a personal hurt, long healed, but still tender at times. Séaghdha is a force of nature and Leliana can admit to herself that she had been caught up in their personality like a ship in a storm. She had not been the only one. She doesn’t regret it, but Leliana realizes that in many ways Séaghdha had been no better than Marjolaine.

The Iron Bull shifts, a shrewd twist to his lips. “Ah. I had heard… but I don’t think I believed it really.” Leliana stiffens slightly, and calculates how to break her teacup to leave her with a piece long enough to defend herself with. The twist broadens into a lascivious grin and Bull settles back as he says, “did you really have an orgy with the Hero of Ferelden?”

It’s an old rumor, started by Séaghdha’s frequent attendance at the Pearl, but it startles a laugh out of Leliana nevertheless. “Oh goodness no!” She laughs again, and tension flows like water out of her shoulders. It’s obvious what Bull is doing, but she lets it pass. “If they had asked? Perhaps,” she confides, smiling into her teacup, sipping at her tea.

Bull’s eye sparkles with mirth and interest. “Now that is the kind of information I like to hear, my lady Nightingale,” he says, with a bit of a laugh.

Leliana winks, her face sore with the effort to keep it straight. Her voice wavers only a tick with the need to laugh but she manages to say as seriously as she can, “let us hope that you hear that and much more with us, the Iron Bull. May I welcome you to the Inquisition?” She is thankful for her hood when her facade cracks into a grin at the thought of a Ben-Hassrath spy reporting gossip and rumor on bed partners and nothing else.

**Author's Note:**

> So I originally wanted this to be a ship drabble, but tbh, it wasn't happening. I really like this, though, and I think that Bull and Leliana are very good friends, at least in this universe. Séaghdha (pronounced SHAY) is my Surana, and romances Alistair. Pronouns are they/them, though they will accept she/her for expediencies' sake ~~or there isn't a they/them option in dao and I wanted to come up with a reason as to why they weren't killing everyone in sight~~. They poison the urn, and for some reason--I think it's because I maxed her approval--Leliana didn't leave. Wynne _did_ but that's okay. Séaghdha is very much not a proponent of the Chantry, and has some anger issues. They will definitely come up whenever I write too much of Cullen's pov, no matter who the HoF was.
> 
> Anyway, I hope y'all like this, and if you'd like, come visit me on [tumblr](https://sachinighte.tumblr.com/)!


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